The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 68
Pure, simple, and fervent was the piety of these followers of Christ.
The principles of truth they valued above houses and lands, friends,
kindred, even life itself. These principles they earnestly sought to
impress upon the hearts of the young. From earliest childhood the youth
were instructed in the Scriptures and taught to regard sacredly the claims
of the law of God. Copies of the Bible were rare; therefore its precious
words were committed to memory. Many were able to repeat large
portions of both the Old and the New Testament. Thoughts of God were
associated alike with the sublime scenery of nature and with the humble
blessings of daily life. Little children learned to look with gratitude to
God as the giver of every favor and every comfort.
Parents, tender and affectionate as they were, loved their children too
wisely to accustom them to self-indulgence. Before them was a life of
trial and hardship, perhaps a martyr’s death. They were educated from
childhood to endure hardness, to submit to control, and yet to think and
act for themselves. Very early they were taught to bear responsibilities,
to be guarded in speech, and to understand the wisdom of silence. One
indiscreet word let fall in the hearing of their enemies might imperil not
only the life of the speaker, but the lives of hundreds of his brethren; for
as wolves hunting their prey did the enemies of truth pursue those who
dared to claim freedom of religious faith.
The Waldenses had sacrificed their worldly prosperity for the truth’s
sake, and with persevering patience they toiled for their bread. Every
spot of tillable land among the mountains was carefully improved; the
valleys and the less fertile hillsides were made to yield their increase.
Economy and severe self-denial formed a part of the education which
the children received as their only legacy. They were taught that God
designs life to be a discipline, and that their wants could be supplied
only by personal labor, by forethought, care, and faith. The process was
laborious and wearisome, but it was
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